Robert Downey Jr. Says He's 'Happy' to Be Done With Marvel Movies
Tony Stark himself has revealed he is “happy” to be out of the Marvel machine. In a new interview with The New York Times Magazine promoting his upcoming role in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. seemed to look back with little love at the role which revived his career.
During the interview, Downey Jr. confirms that he would classify Avengers: Age of Ultron, the wildly successful if somewhat-maligned sequel to The Avengers, as merely “content” to be clicked upon and mindlessly viewed. He views Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Back to School as “not content,” however.
Oppenheimer, he says, is an old-fashioned movie that he is particularly proud of. “Entering the box-office-weekend-dominating place, then going into this spot now where I’m happy that I’m in this quality product—I’m happy that I regained my connection with a more purist approach to making movies.”
Downey expressed that for his family, especially his late father Robert Downey Sr. (a noted director and actor in cult films), his extended tenure as a leading man was uneasy. “I was raised in a family that rebelled against the idea of a summer blockbuster having any merit and thought that the films that were preferred viewing that year weren’t any good, either,” he revealed.
“You start to wonder if a muscle you have hasn’t atrophied,” Downey Jr. added.
Returning to work with an auteur like Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan was “a demarcation line” for the actor after nearly 15 years spent in franchise films. “Getting to see the spartan, almost monastic way he approaches this art form, it was like going to the other side of the moon.”
Downey Jr.’s comments come at a time of uneasiness for the previously undefeated Marvel Studios.
In February, Disney pumped the brakes on its ceaseless output of Marvel properties. That news came just before Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opened to some of the lowest numbers a Marvel picture has ever seen. It topped out at just $476 million worldwide. Though the studio’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 has pulled in over $800 million worldwide this summer, the path forward for Marvel Studios seems somewhat uncertain for the first time.
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An ongoing domestic violence case against actor Jonathan Majors, who is currently cast as the prime antagonist in the forthcoming phase of Marvel films, has further complicated matters.
This week, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu broke the news to fans on his Threads account that the sequel to the hit 2021 film is in developmental limbo. “That keeps pushing back due to circumstances which are beyond my control,” Liu admitted.
In addition to Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. is also out promoting his new series Downey’s Dream Cars. The show, which is currently streaming on Max, spotlights Downey Jr. as he converts his beloved collection of gas-powered cars into electric vehicles.
Oppenheimer hits theaters on July 21.